Debate Brings Clarity to Gay Marriage Issue
Sacramento — The accepted wisdom in the Capitol has always been that legislative floor speeches never change votes. Maybe. But they do change views.
For example, a 90-minute debate Thursday in the state Senate on a bill to allow same-sex marriages: It changed my view.
Actually, it cleared up my muddled view, which really began shifting eight years ago during a chat at the back of the Senate chamber with then-President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer.
How do you feel about gay marriage? I asked.
"You know," he replied, "people have so many problems and life's so short, if letting gays 'marry' gives them some joy and happiness, why not? I say let them do it."
Lockyer later got elected attorney general and now is dutifully defending in court the state's ban on same-sex marriages. But he hasn't changed his personal view.
It made sense to me, but I wasn't ready to go there yet. Certainly, homosexual couples should be entitled to all the protections and privileges of heterosexuals -- call it a "civil union" or "domestic partnership," a civil right or plain fairness. But calling it a "marriage" could devalue the institution in some minds, especially young people's, I thought.
Until the Senate debate.
Probably the speech that firmly clicked me into a "yeah, why not?" mode was by Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto). He talked about marriage "reinforcing traditional values: accountability, monogamy, commitment, the rule of law
We should be encouraging that as a society, he asserted.
Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) followed up: "Marriage is a phenomenal institution
"The threat to marriage today is poverty, discrimination, lack of healthcare
As the compelling debate continued, I kept thinking about what Lockyer had said -- and the people suffering in hurricane hell, the American soldiers being blown up, the gas price gougers. And I wondered why anybody should worry about what we call two people living together in a loving relationship.
There was a lot of talk about God.
My god doesn't fret about homosexuality, but clearly many people believe that theirs does.
"I don't believe there's a member of this chamber who doesn't
Replied Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey): "I don't think anyone should claim God as being on their side in this debate
The bill would not -- could not -- affect religious rules. Churches still could refuse to recognize a marriage. Catholics know all about that.
